1. Field of the Invention
The invention is generally related to a medication dispensing unit, and more particularly to a device that dispenses medication and monitors compliance with a medication regime.
2. Description of the Related Art
Doctors commonly prescribe a regimen of pills to be taken by ill persons. For example, a regimen such as "take two of the blue pills every six hours and one of the green pills every four hours" or the like is not uncommon. For some persons, such a specific regimen or course of medication may be easily followed. For other persons however, confusion can arise both concerning the schedule and concerning whether or not the medication has been taken. This problem occurs frequently with elderly persons who may have suffered some loss of mental faculties, but can occur with other persons as well.
A variety of automated dispensers of pills which are purportedly aimed at some aspects of this dispensing problem are described in the related art. According to their respective descriptions these dispensers are intended to provide for dispensing of pills according to some specified regimen. In addition, in some cases, they have some described means to permit a determination of deviations from their programmed regimen. These dispensers, however have shortcomings in their complexity, cost, flexibility, ease of use, error resistance for use in many conventional medication dispensing needs.
For example, U.S. Pat. No. 5,582,323 issued to Kurtenbach describes a medication dispenser and monitor system. According to its description, the Kurtenbach dispenser apparatus has a plurality of compartments which directly receive and hold pills for dispensing individual medication dosages. The dispenser provides an alarm alerting the patient that it is time to dispense his or her medication. If the medication is not dispensed the unit makes a call to a monitoring facility. The medication dispensing and monitoring system described in Kurtenbach also allows for recording non compliance by the patient.
However, Kurtenbach does not provide any protection against overdosing by the patient and, further, does not provide any emergency communication to a local caregiver who is more likely to quickly aid the patient than the central monitoring service. Also, the described medication apparatus directly stores pills in compartments which may become contaminated by residue.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,646,912 issued to Cousin also describes a medication dispensing apparatus. According to its description the apparatus has a plurality of pill dispensing units controlled by a microprocessor that is programmed with a patients medication schedule. According to its description, the pill dispensing apparatus can prevent overdosage or underdosage in the subject patient by altering the medication dosage dispensing schedule.
Cousin, however, has shortcomings which could render it inadequate for many anticipated uses. One shortcoming is that its apparatus uses compartments that directly contain the medication to be dispensed, and such compartments are readily susceptible to residue build up. Additionally, Cousin's described scheme and apparatus for preventing overdosage or underdosage in a subject patient is somewhat complicated and, accordingly, could be difficult to implement.
There is therefore a need for an improved dispensing system for home medication. The present invention is directed to this need, and provides further related advantages.